Rambling Like Rousseau In Switzerland

Nicolas Brulliard adventures of following Rousseau's foot steps... well quite literally.

I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with Rousseau’s hangouts around Neuchatel, because I grew up in the area. But for me, Rousseau had always been first and foremost the author of “The Confessions,” an autobiographical work that I’d found an arduous read in high school. I knew that he’d lived in the nearby village of Motiers, but I’d never bothered to stop there. And though I’d visited St. Peter’s Island as a schoolboy, I’d had only a vague idea then that Rousseau had spent time there.

Now, more than 20 years after that painful reading of his autobiography, I was starting to think that I had sold the great writer short. Reading the “Reveries,” I discovered his love of walking in nature — a love I shared — and his eloquence in describing the profound effect it had on his spirits. And having left Switzerland 13 years ago, I could also relate to his exile’s sense of separation from the landscapes he treasured.

So I was ready to give Rousseau a second chance. I picked a handful of excursions that I would go on alone, or at most with a guide, as Rousseau himself would have favored.

The first walk was one that I’d actually been wanting to do for some time. To the sharp and rocky heights of the Alps, Rousseau preferred the softer and rounder Jura Mountains: The limestone that makes up most of the range dates back about 145 million to 200 million years to a geological period known as the Jurassic age. But the Creux-du-Van is an exception to the rule.

The crescent-shaped rock formation was carved by a combination of water and glacier erosion, and it features 500-foot-high vertical cliffs that stand in sharp contrast to the surrounding hills. Rousseau apparently came here one July day in 1765 to pursue his newfound passion for botany. 

“I love botany. It is getting worse every day,” he wrote to one of his friends. “I only have hay in my head. One of these mornings I will turn into a plant.”